Enough budget for RH Law implementation, senators say

MANILA, Philippines – Senators criticized for cutting the budget for the implementation of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law said concerns are misplaced because the Department of Health (DOH) has enough funds for this year.

“They had P3.2 billion last year and they did not use it properly. Now they are still given P2.6 billion after the cut,” Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Vicente Sotto III said.

Former Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of the RH Law in the House of Representatives, has singled out Sotto for the P1-billion cut in the budget for the Family Health and Responsible Parenting (FHRP) program of the DOH.

Sens. Pia Cayetano and Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the budget cut was unacceptable.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said all the information about this year’s national budget was made available to all members of Congress before it was enacted into law.

“All senators were given a copy of the bicameral conference committee report before they voted to ratify. The first page of the report shows both the increase and the decrease in the budget of all agencies, including the Department of Health,” Legarda said.

She said the details of the realignments were also laid out.

Legarda said the budget for the FHRP program was cut after assessing its possible impact. “We took note that as of June 2015, the DOH status of funds showed that of the P3.27-billion allocation for FHRP, only P955 million had been obligated or 29 percent,” she said.

“For the remaining six months, P2.3 billion or 71 percent has yet to be obligated. The unused 2015 budget is still available in 2016 and the agencies may augment deficient items from their savings,” she added.

Legarda said the FHRP program for this year would still have an allocation of P2.275 billion, of which P1.67 billion is for the procurement of family planning commodity.

“A cut in the budget does not mean less support for a program. We also see the need to increase funds of other agencies for equally important programs, “ Legarda said.

DOH to find other sources

Malacañang also lamented the budget cut, saying the DOH would have to address it.

“Secretary (Janette) Garin mentioned that she would appeal to NGOs (non-government organizations) and other institutions to help with this effort because this could also help those who want to avail of these items,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III said over radio dzRB.

“Maybe what will happen here is that...after the elections, (lawmakers can propose) that the budget be restored,” Quezon said.

While the development was saddening, Quezon said it would have been unfair if the passage of the entire budget was put in peril over one item.

“This is the reason why Secretary Garin is working to find other sources,” he said.

Women’s health

The P1-billion cut in the FHRP will endanger women’s health, the Gabriela Women’s Party has warned.

“The rechanneling of P1-billion cut for the DOH 2016 purchase of reproductive health supplies to beef up DND (Department of National Defense)’s air fleet merely confirms the sense of priorities of the matuwid na daan budgets for the last six years of the Aquino administration,” Gabriela spokesman for Metro Manila Arlene Brosas said. – With Aurea Calica, Paolo Romero